Nelson swaps skis for boots as Scotland build into 2018

Helen Nelson started all five games for Scotland in the 2017 Women's Six Nations

Inpho

Skiing and rugby might not seem the most complementary of sports but for Helen Nelson a background on the slopes has helped her develop on the pitch.

"Now that we have got a couple of wins under our belt, it's quite an addictive feeling."

The 23-year-old from Glencoe first broke onto the international scene in 2016, and started every game of last year's Women's Six Nations as Scotland ended their long wait for a Championship victory.

She started at fly-half in the wins over Wales and Italy, and with Scotland having carried on with some impressive displays in November, Nelson is thankful for her skiing background which she thinks helped her development as a player.

"Being from Glencoe, I skied from the age of about four or five," said Nelson, who started playing rugby at the age of seven before stopping for a few years when she was a teenager.

"When I stopped playing rugby I took up competitive skiing and was on the Scottish Alpine ski team for three or four years. I've played shinty and football too so sport has always been a massive part of my life.

"Attitude-wise I've definitely taken a lot (from skiing) in terms of mental toughness. I learned a lot from skiing. But also in terms of balance and hand-eye coordination, it was a massive helping hand."

The Edinburgh University graduate has been helped by the presence of Lisa Martin, skipper and long-time fly-half outside her, and admits that has aided her progression.

Coming up next Sunday is a clash with Spain, who Scotland beat in November, which will serve as the perfect warm-up for the Six Nations.

And after ending their seven-year wait for a Championship success last year, Nelson revealed that there is a real buzz and desire to go even better in 2018.

She said: "There's lots of excitement building into it, looking to get our Six Nations warm-up underway. So we're really excited.

"We've been concentrating on our own game plan and building on the brand we want to play, fast, exciting rugby. We had a solid couple of Autumn Tests which went really well and I think we're improving every time we play together.

"It's really exciting, we're still such a young squad but the more we play together, we are improving every game. There's a great buzz in the squad at the moment after the success we had last year and seeing all the work we put in is paying off. It's a really exciting time to be involved in the squad.

"Now that we have got a couple of wins under our belt, it's quite an addictive feeling. We want to keep winning and building on that and maybe in the past we have been the underdogs.

"Maybe now we won't be for some games so it's definitely a different challenge we'll have to deal with. We just have to keep concentrating on ourselves though and make sure our own performances improve. The wins will take care of themselves."

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Tadhg Furlong was named NatWest 6 Nations Man of the Match for Ireland's win over England

19 March 2018, 1:52pm

The final round of the 2018 NatWest 6 Nations certainly didn't fail to deliver as Ireland secured just a third Grand Slam in their history, Scotland edged their way past Italy at the death in a thriller and Wales did enough to see off France in Cardiff.